Saturday, September 27, 2008

Indiana Moment

Day 200 I was up early and packed quickly. I had a lot to accomplish today. After storing my stuff I headed to the bus station and to Cesis. Cesis is meant to be a very typical Latvian town.

After finding the tourist office and then eating what I thought was a potato pancake but turned out to be chicken I headed to the Cesis Cathedral. Inside was pretty basic, but the bell tower was fabulous. Up top there were hundreds of bells, not just the big one or two. Most of the bells were very small and they all had a note tied on them. I wonder how long they have been there and what they symbolize.

When I had finished at the church I walked over to the castle. The castle is a ruin and has no electricity. When I bought my ticket they gave me a candle lit lantern.

Cesis castle is pretty interesting. A few years ago during an excavation several skeletons were found. The people had died during a cave in. Quite a bit of money was found with them. There are still rumors that there is more treasure to be found.

At first I didn't think that the candle was really needed, but then I saw the pitch black spiral staircase. This might not have been such a hot idea. I am a notorious klutz and I know how much it hurts to fall on spiral stairs. About 5 years ago I spent a night in Bolton Castle in England. After dinner we were given a scavenger hunt and period clothing. There was no electricity and we were carrying flashlights. We were also running around to be first. I lost my footing hurrying down the steps and slid about one floor down on my butt. It wasn't a highlight of the evening.

I went carefully up the staircase and slowly checked out all of the rooms. Somehow I managed to not slip. It was scary and fun all at the same time, I felt like Indiana Jones.

I was kinda relieved and sad when the tour was over. My next stop was meant to be the brewery but it was closed. After checking out some of the statues around the city I got the next bus back to Riga.

I had a really late night bus and still had hours to kill. I was also just about out of reading material. I ended up going to the movies to pass the time. When I got back to the hostel I charged my ipod and read the NY papers that Karen had brought for me. Right when I was about to leave I met an Australian girl and we exchanged books. I didn't have time to read the back cover, I just knew that I needed something for the long ride.

While I was sitting at the bus station cops came around and woke up all of the homeless people. They then gave them tickets and the people paid on the spot, but didn't leave. I don't know what that was about.

On the bus I was happy to see that I had four seats across and could spread out. I opened up my book and began to read. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas might be one of the most haunting books I have ever read. I read it all in one straight shot. When I was finished exhaustion took over and I finally closed my eyes.